Refuse container



Aug. 3, 1965 J. c. BRIGHTON REFUSE CONTAINER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct.'7, 1963 m T m V m Aug. 3, 1965 J. c. BRIGHTON REFUSE CONTAINER 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 7, 1963 INVENTOR.

JMI/ 6i Z/l' k/fl/I, BY

f, Add 1 M Aug. 3, 1965 .1. c. BRIGHTON REFUSE CONTAINER 3 Sheets-Sheet5 Filed Oct. 7, 1965 l FLLZIIIgIIJ:II:III:1 I:1

NW 2 [I I N VEN TOR.

/7" fah/ df/gM/M, 204i United States Patent 3,193,426 REFUSE CONTAINER IJohn C. Brighton, Columbus, Ind, assignor to Arvin Industries, Inc.,Columbus, Ind, a corporation of Indiana 7 Filed Oct. 7, 1963, Ser. No.314,293

8 Claims. (ill. 232-432) This invention relates to a refuse container,and more particularly to a refuse container employing a disposablerefuse bag.

It is an object of the invention to provide a refuse container ofattractive appearance which can be inexpensively manufactured largelyfrom sheet metal, which can be used in combination with a disposablerefuse holding bag, which will securely retain said bag in openoperative position but which will permit said bag to be quickly andeasily placed in and removed from said operative position, and whichwill protect said bag from animals.

In accordance with the preferred form of the invention, there isprovided a cabinet having a plurality of intercom nected side walls. Thelower end of said cabinet is enclosed'by a fioor rigidly connected tosaid side walls. A door is mounted on the cabinet for swinging movementabout a vertical axis between an open and closed position. A throatforming member is mounted on each of said side walls and the dooradjacent the upper ends thereof. Each of said members is provided with ahorizontal stretch and a vertical stretch, so that with said door in itsclosed position said vertical stretches will form a generallyrectangular throat through which a refuse bag can hang with its open endfolded thereover. A lid is hingedly connected to the cabinet formovement between an open position in which the open end of the bag isaccessible and a closed position in which it is disposed on the upperfaces of the horizontal stretches of the throat forming members for thusclosing the top of the bag and the cabinet.

In order to releasably retain the bag on the throat, a generallyrectangular collar is swingably connected to the horizontal stretch ofone of the throat forming members. Said collar has a plurality ofstretches parallel to the vertical stretches forming the throat, wherebyupon movement of said collar into its operative position said pluralityof collar stretches will bindingly retain the folded over edges of theopen end of the bag against the throat. The plurality of collarstretches are interconnected at the collar corners by outwardly directedprojections, with the projections at the corners adjacent the door beingangled upwardly to serve as finger-lifts. Desirably, a downwardlyextending offset is formed in the collar to engage the horizontalstretch on one of the throat forming members to insure that said collarlies withinvthe vertical extent of the throat and the edge portion ofthe bag folded thereover.

Other objects and features will become apparent from the more detaileddescription which follows and from the accompanying drawings, in which:2

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refuse container embodying theinvention;

:F-IG. 2 is a plan view of the refuse container shown in FIG.. 1, butshowing the lid and door thereof in open position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the container shownin FIG. 1, but showing the lid in open position;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2and showing a portion of a bag mounted in the container;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG.3;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 3;

3,198,426 Patented Aug. 3, 1965 FIG. 7 is a vertical section taken onthe line 7-7 of FIG. 6; but showing the lid in closed position;

FIG. 8 is a bottom plan view of the container shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section" showing the lidlatching mechanism.

As shown, the container comprises a cabinet conveniently formed fromsheet metal and having a plurality of interconnected side walls 10, 11,and 12 with the 'front edges of the side walls It and 12 being bentinwardly at 13. The lower end of the cabinet is closed by a floor 14having a peripheral skirt 16 rigidly connected to the side walls 19-12.A pair of braces 17 are mounted on the lower face of the floor 14 'tostiffen said floor over its cross-sectional extent. Conveniently,ground-engaging feet 18 projectdownwardly from the braces'17 to supportthe cabinet in an elevated position above the ground.

The front of the cabinet is enclosed by a door 20 providedwith inwardlyprojecting flanges along its lateral and lower edges and connected tothe inwardly directed stretch 13 of the side walllt) by a plurality ofhinges 21 for swinging movement about the vertical axis of said hinges.A finger latch 22 is swingably mounted on the door 20 along its edgeopposite the hinges 21. Said latch has a pair of horizontally disposedfinger-lifts 23 integrally connected to a generally, semi-cylindricalplate 24 parallel with the front face of the door 20 and having alateral extent such that-it projects laterally outwardly from said doorto en gage the inwardly directed portion 13 of the side wall 12 forlimiting the closing movement of the door. The plate 24has a downwardlyopen notch 25 formed therein which is receivable over a latch pin 26mounted on the stretch 13 of the side wall 12 for releasably locking thedoor in closed position. I

g In order to support the bag in-the container, a plurality of throatforming members are mounted on the cabinet ide walls and door 20 alongthe upper ends thereof. As shown, each of said throat forming members onthe cabinet side walls comprises a horizontally disposed stretch 36interconnected to an upwardly extending stretch 38. Conveniently, theedges of the horizontal stretches 36 remote from the stretches 38 arebent downwardly, as at 39, and rigidly secured to their associatedcabinet side walls. As shown in FIG. 2, the horizontal stretches 36 forma continuous U-shaped platform adjacent the upper ends of the cabinetside walls and the vertical stretches 38 form three sides of arectangular upwardly projecting throat extending above the upper edgesofsaid cabinet side walls. The throat forming member on the door 20 isalso provided with a horizontal stretch 49 interconnecting a flange 42connected to the inner face of the door 2% and an upwardly projectingstretch 44. As shown in FIG. 2, the horizontal stretch on the door andthe adjacentends of the stretches 36'interconnected to the side walls 10and 12 are mitred so that upon closing of the door 20, the verticalstretch 44 of the throat forming member on the door will abut the endsof the vertical stretches 38 of the throat forming members on thecabinet side walls 10 and 12 so that the vertical stretches 38 and 44form the rectangularly shaped upwardly projecting throat through which arefuse bag 35 can hang with the edges of its open upper end foldedthereover.

To releasably retain the bag 35 on the throat formed by the stretches 38and 44, a collar conveniently formed from a wire rod is swingablyconnected to the cabinet. Said rod has a generally rectangularconfiguration to provide aplurality of stretches 46 in parallel to thethroat stretches 33 and a stretch 47 parallel to the throat stretch 44.As shown in FIG. 6, the ends of the collar are hooked, as at 48, and areswingably received in a pair of fingers 50 struck upwardly from thehorizontal stretch 36 along the cabinet side wall 11. Outwardly directedlooped proansaaas jections 52 are provided at each of the collarcorners, and the loops 52 adjacent the rear of the cabinet are swingablyreceived in a pair of downwardly hooked fingers 54 struck upwardly fromthe horizontal stretch 36 along the cabinet side wall 11. The loops 52adjacent the forward end of the cabinet are bent slightly upwardly toserve as finger-lifts. Intermediate its ends, the collar stretch 47 isprovided with the downwardly extending offset 55 engageable with thehorizontal stretch 40 on thethroat forming member mounted on the doorfor thus locating the collar within the vertical extents of the throatand the edges of the bag folded over said throat. The crosssectionalextent of the collar is slightly less than the crosssectional extent ofthe throat so that upon movement of the collar into its operativeposition within the vertical extent of the throat, said collar will bestressed over the folded over edges of the bag 35 to bindingly retainsaid bag edges against the outer face of the throat. As is shown in FIG.9, with the collar stretch 47 bindingly retaining the bag against theouter face of the throat stretch 44 on the door 20, said collar thusfurther serves to retain said door in its closed position. As the collaris moved into its operative position, there will be a tendency for therear portion of said'collar to be sprung upwardly, but the fingers 54will retain said rear portion within the vertical extent of the throat.

The upper end of the cabinet and thus the open end of the bag 35 isenclosed by a lid 56 conveniently formed of sheet metal and having adownwardly extending peripheral skirt 58 engageable with the horizontalstretches 36 and of the throat forming members when said lid is movedinto its closed position. A handle 60 is mounted on the upper face ofthe lid, and a latch is'mounted on the lower face of said lid adjacentthe front face thereof. As shown in FIG.'9, said latch comprises adownwardly projecting finger 62 formed of spring-steel and mounted onthe lower face of the lid. The lower end of the finger 62 is providedwith a latch nose 64 receivable in an opening 65 formed in thehorizontal stretch 40 of the throat forming member on the door 20. Aplunger 66 is mounted on the finger 62 and projects through an openingin the lid skirt 58. A spring 60 carried on the plunger shaft actsbetween the lid skirt 58 and the plunger head to urge said plungeroutwardly to position the latch nose 64 in locking engagement with thelower face of the stretch 40.

A pair of brackets 70 extend downwardly from the lid skirt 58 adjacentthe rear edge thereof and immediately adjacent a pair of upwardlyprojecting brackets 71 mounted on the cabinet side wall 11. The brackets70 and 71 are interconnected by a torsion spring hinge 72 having one ofits ends 73 fixedly retained in one of the cabinet brackets 71 and theadjacent lid bracket 70 and its opposite end 74 fixedly retained in theopposie lid bracket 70 and cabinet bracket 71. In this manner, thespring hinge 72 will bias the lid 56 toward its open position shown inFIG. 2 for disposing the open end of the bag 35 in a position of access.As viewed in FIG. 2, the inherent torque of the hinge 72 will exert aconstant upward force on the right side of the lid 57, and it istherefore desirable to mount the lid latch adjacent the right side ofsaid lid to insure that the lid is transversely uniformly slated in itsclosed position on the upper end of the container.

I claim:

1. A refuse container, comprising 7 (a) a cabinet having a plurality ofinterconnected side walls,

(b) a door mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement about avertical axis between open and closed positions,

(c) a throat forming member mounted on each of said side walls and saiddoor and having a horizontal stretch and a vertical stretch, wherebyupon said door being in closed position said vertical stretches form agenerally rectangular throat over which the open end of a refuse bag maybe folded, and

(d) a generally rectangular collar swingably connected to the horizontalstretch of one of said throat forming members for movement between aretracted position above said throat and an operative positionimmediately adjacent the outer faces of the vertical stretches of saidthroat forming members and within the vertical extent thereof forbindingly retaining the edges of aid bag against said throat.

2. A refuse container as set forth in claim 1 in which (a) said throatforming members extend continuously around said cabinet when the door isin its closed position, and

(b) the horizontal and vertical stretches on the throat forming memberon the door abut the ends of the horizontal and vertical stretches ofthe throat forming members on said cabinet.

3. A refuse container, comprising (a) a cabinet having a plurality ofinterconnected side walls,

(b) a door mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement about avertical axis between open and closed positions,

(0) a throat forming member mounted on each of said side walls and saiddoor and having a horizontal stretch and a vertical stretch, wherebyupon said door being in closed position said vertical stretches form agenerally rectangular throat over which the open end of a refuse bag maybe folded,

(d) a generally rectangular collar swingably connected to the horizontalstretch of one of said throat forming members for movement between aretracted position above said throat and an operative positionimmediately adjacent said throat and within the vertical extent thereoffor bindingly retaining the edges of said bag against said throat,

(e) said collar having a plurality of stretches parallel to the verticalstretches of said throat and interconnected at the corners of saidcollar by outwardly directed projections, the projections at the cornersadjacent said door being angled upwardly, and

(f) a downwardly extending offset on the collar stretch adjacent saiddoor abutting the horizontal stretch on the throat forming member on thedoor when said door and collar are in closed and operative positions,respectively.

4. A refuse container as set forth in claim 3 in which (a) the ends ofsaid collar are swingably connected to a first pair of fingers on thethroat forming member along the cabinet side wall remote from the door,and

(b) each of said projections has a looped configuration, the loops atthe corners of the collar adjacent the collar ends being swingablyconnected to a second pair of fingers on said throat forming memberalong said cabinet side wall remotefrom the door.

5. A refuse container as set forth in claim 4 in which (a) said firstand second pairs of fingers are struck upwardly from the horizontalstretch of said throat forming member,

(b) said first pair of fingers having openings formed therein in whichthe ends of said collar are received and said second pair of fingershavingdownwardly open hooks received over said pair of loops.

6. A refuse container, comprising (a) ahcabinet having a plurality ofinterconnected side wa s,

(b) a door mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement about avertical axis between open and closed position,

(c) a throat forming member mounted on each of said side walls and saiddoor and having a horizontal stretch and a vertical stretch, wherebyupon said door being in closed position said vertical stretches form agenerally rectangular throat over which the open end of a refuse bag maybe folded,

(d) a generally rectangular collar swingably connected to the horizontalstretch of one of said throat forming members for movement between aretracted position above said throat and an operative positionimmediately adjacent the outer faces of said throat forming members andwithin the vertical extent thereof for bindingly retaining the edges ofsaid bag against said throat,

(e) a lid swingably connected to said cabinet and having a peripheralskirt abutting the horizontal stretches on said throat forming memberswhen said lid is moved into closed position, and

(f) a latch on said lid receivable in an opening formed in thehorizontal stretch of the throat forming member on the door forreleasably retaining saidlid in closed position.

7. A refuse container, comprising (a) a cabinet having a plurality ofinterconnected side walls,

(b) a door mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement about avertical axis between open'and closed position,

(c) a throat fiorming member mounted on each of said side walls and saiddoor and having a horizontal stretch and a vertical stretch, wherebyupon said door being in closed position said vertical stretches form agenerally rectangular throat over which the open end of a refuse bag maybe folded,

(d) a generally rectangular collar swingably connected to the horizontalstretch of one of said throat forming members for movement between aretracted position above said throat and an operative position &immediately adjacent said throat and within the vertical extent thereoffor bindingly retaining the edges of said bag against said throat,

(e) a lid swingably connected to said cabinet and having a peripheralskirt abutting the horizontal stretches on said throat forming memberswhen said lid is moved into closed position, and

(f) a latch on said lid receivable in an opening formed in thehorizontal stretch of the throat forming member on the door forreleasably retaining said lid in closed position,

' (g) said lid being connected to said cabinet by a torsion springconnected to pairs of brackets on said cabinet and lid adjacent theopposed lateral sides thereof and biasing said lid toward open position,

(h) one end of said spring being fixedly retained in one of the bracketson said cabinet and the other end of said spring being fixedly retainedin one of the brackets on said lid tor movement therewith.

8. A refuse container as set forth in claim 7 in which (a) said latchand said one lid bracket in which said other end of the spring isfixedly retained are mounted on said lid adjacent the same lateral sidethereof.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,121,387 12/14Milks 232-432 2,916,183 12/59 Ariens 232-432 3,099,390 7/63 Dylla232-432 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Exanriner.

1. A REFUSE CONTAINER, COMPRISING (A) A CABINET HAVING A PLURALITY OFINTERCONNECTED SIDE WALLS, (B) A DOOR MOUNTED ON SAID CABINET FORSWINGING MOVEMENT ABOUT A VERTICAL AXIS BETWEEN OPEN AND CLOSEDPOSITIONS, (C) A THROAT FORMING MEMBER MOUNTED ON EACH OF SAID SIDEWALLS AND SAID DOOR AND HAVING A HORIZONTAL STRETCH AND A VERTICALSTRETCH, WHEREBY UPON SAID DOOR BEING IN CLOSED POSITION SAID VERTICALSTRETCHES FORM A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR THROAT OVER WHICH THE OPEN END OFA REFUSE BAG MAY BE FOLDED, AND (D) A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR COLLARSWINGABLY CONNECTED TO THE HORIZONTAL STRETCH OF ONE OF SAID THROATFORMING MEMBERS FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN A RETRACTED POSITION ABOVE SAIDTHROAT AND AN OPERATIVE POSITION IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT THE OUTER FACES OFTHE VERTICAL STRETCHES OF SAID THROAT FORMING MEMBERS AND WITHIN THEVERTICAL EXTENT THEREOF FOR BINDINGLY RETAINING THE EDGES OF SAID BAGAGAINST SAID THROAT.